Clothespin



April 19, 1949. v c. B. $15k 2,467,864

CLOTHESPIN File d Apfil 16, 1945 gwuwwbom CHARLES E S/sk Patented Apr. 19, 1949 UNITED'STATES ATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in clothes pins of a type embodying a pair of spring actuated jaw members and including a coil spring positioned between the opposed faces of the jaws and having the ends of the spring engaged against the outer faces of the respective jaws to yieldably urge the jaws in closed position for clamping the clothes and clothes line therebetween and the invention has for its primary object to provide means for preventing the clothes from becoming caught or entangled with the ends of the spring.

More specifically the invention embodies a coil spring positioned between the closed faces of the pair of jaws, the coil extending the full width of the jaws and providing a guard at the outer convolution at each end of the coil and curved downwardly at the side edges of the jaws to prevent contact of the clothes with the coil spring.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character of simple and practical construction, which is efficient and reliable in use, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same as intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout and in which- Figure 1 is a front elevational view.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on a line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one of the jaws; and

Figure 5 is a view in elevation showing the clothes pin in use for clamping clothes to a clothes line.

Referring now to the drawing in detail wherein for the purposes of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention the numerals 5 and 6 designate a pair of cooperating jaw members, preferably constructed of light weight wood and of a duplicate construction.

The opposed faces of the jaws, adjacent to one end thereof, are formed with grooves l for receiving and gripping a clothes line 8 for clamping clothes 9 between the jaws and adjacent the center of the jaws the opposed faces are formed with transverse grooves l0 adapted for receiving a transversely extending coil spring II.

The coil spring H extends substantially throughout the width of the jaws as will be apparent from an inspection of Figure 3 of the drawing and the end convolution at each end of the spring terminates in a guard I2 which is curved downwardly and transversely of the side edges of the jaws to bridge the space between the jaws immediately beneath the spring whereby to prevent the clothes from coming into contact with the convolutions of the spring and thus eliminate the possibility of the clothes becoming entangled with the spring.

The ends l3 of the wire forming the spring H and the guard l2 are bent transversely behind the respective jaws from one side thereof to the other, as illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing to retain the jaws in cooperating relation, the ends I3 of the wire being shaped to form the letter Z and with the free end M thereof seated in a transverse groove l5 adjacent the gripping ends of the jaws whereby to urge the jaws into a closed position.

The spring ll serves as a pivot for the jaws for the opening and closing movement thereof.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing it is believed that a clear understanding of the construction, operation and advantages of a device of this character will be quite apparent to those skilled in the art. A more detailed description thereof is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood however that even though I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as herein described, and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what I claim is:

1. A clothes pin comprising a pair of elongated jaws having gripping ends and handle ends, a coil spring positioned transversely of the opposed faces of the jaws and intermediate of the ends thereof for spacing the jaws apart and to form a pivot for the laws, and the terminals of the coil spring each being Z-shaped, said terminals being disposed against the outer faces of the jaws and extending from adjacent their intermediate portions to adjacent their gripping ends, said terminals retaining the jaws in engagement with the spring and normally retaining the gripping ends thereof in contact at one point.

2. A clothes pin comprising a pair of elongated complemental members having transverse grooves on the opposed sides thereof, a coil spring interposed between the elongated members and partly protruding into the grooves and defining a ful- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Number Name 1,874,871 Bower Aug. 30, 1932 1,875,461 Hopkins Sept. 6, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 18,800 Great Britain July 27, 1911 150,577 Great Britain Sept. 9, 1920 

